Foundation

When we allow government to grow large, and especially large and unionized, the effects on our society are greater than just the weight of the government yoke on the backs of the American people. There are other, hidden effects to consider when such concentrations of left-wing power are brought together.

That is a lesson all Americans can take from the latest from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, CalPERS. Consider what will be ahead for CalPERS if Muriel Strand, a candidate for the CalPERS Board of Administration, gets her way:

I believe retirees’ real economic needs – clean air and water, healthy food, and warmth – are more important that strictly financial benefits, which could conceivably fall short of what’s needed even with the COLA.

That’s right; she’s ready, willing, and able to sacrifice the people she’s charged with looking out for, by sacrificing their retirements in order to push her radical left-wing political agenda. There’s no guarantee she’ll win, but her words are already in line with long-standing CalPERS trends.

Said the Wall Street Journal last March:

Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt recently spelled out a few policy principles for sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), the most important of which was this: “Invest commercially, not politically.” Mr. Kimmitt’s concern is that “governments could conceivably employ large pools of capital in noncommercially driven ways that are politically sensitive.”

Anyone interested in evidence of such behavior needn’t look beyond America’s borders. If California were a national economy, it would be the eighth largest in the world. And its Public Employees’ Retirement System, Calpers, with $259 billion in assets, would rank fifth among the world’s SWFs. Combine it with the $169 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System (Calstrs), and California runs the second largest SWF in the world, just behind the United Arab Emirates.

….Developing-country investment restrictions based on political factors and labor practices began in earnest in 2002 under the direction of then-state treasurer and Calpers board member Phil Angelides. These quickly put 14 of 27 such countries examined by Calpers off limits. When the Philippines was proposed for exclusion in 2004, its stock market and currency plunged. Spurred into action by the Philippine ambassador and heeding a call from Sacramento priests, six busloads of Filipino-Americans besieged a Calpers investment meeting, forcing officials into an embarrassing volte face. Mr. Angelides nonetheless called for Calpers to increase “positive pressure” on foreign governments. “It would be a mistake to walk away from an activist policy,” he said.

….The fund touts “good corporate governance.” But the actual investments it trumpets typically relate to labor and environmental practices, not shareholder concerns.

Emphasis added. CalPERS attempts to use its market power to dictate to private corporations at home and around the world. Its union-driven membership attempts to get in on the ownership side of union disputes, tilting the playing field for publicly-listed coprorations against the other shareholders. Further, they also use that power to dictate a radical “green” agenda to the corporations they influence.

They buy in bad faith. This is merely one illustration of the dangers of having too many government employees. It’s about more than just the direct effects of burdensome taxation and legislation. We create institutions with reach far beyond what we imagined.

I took this yesterday. So clear, so blue the sky behind March Mountain. And so hot yesterday. It looks nice when you’re not out in it!

I took this today. Jones Blue Bubblegum inside my Uranium Oxide glass, lit by a UV penlight.

California’s race for the Senate is easy for people all across the country to care about, but we’re also going to elect a new Governor next year. Term limited or not, Governor Schwarzenegger has burned his bridges with most of the party and likely will never seek elective office again.

So it’s an open seat, and an open field for both parties this time around. Let’s start with the Democrats. It’s less depressing that way.

The Democrats

The Democrats have only held the Governor’s chair for five of the last twenty eight years. Before Gray Davis of the Recall won it, the previous Democrat to win was none other than Attorney General Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown . He is capping off his political comeback after losing for Senate and President (twice). In 1998 he became Mayor of Oakland (serving two terms), In 2006 he became Attorney General of California, and after one term of that he’s taking another stab at the Big Chair. Having served two terms he’s still not term-limited because he took and left office long before term limits.

Moonbeam would be a disaster for the state, of course. He’s the wrong man for the wrong time. He’s the one who began us down the path of economic ruin with his "environmental" policies which seek to drive out of state as much commerce (and as many jobs) as possible. He’s a tax hiker who will add punitive taxation to businesses he feels are inappropriate under his "green" and red policies, as though we could afford to be picky in a recession.

Brown also picks hard-left judges who are soft on crime. He was the one who appointed Rose Bird to the California Supreme Court, who was so out of step with even California that she was voted off in a historic defeat for a California Judge. As Attorney General he has pledged to uphold the death penalty, because he at least respects the rule of law and has a duty as AG, but as Governor he will have no such obligation. Expect vicious murderers to get reprieves should Brown win.

The other declared Democrat is San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom . Think Moonbeam, only worse. His biggest failing is that he is a radical with no respect for the rule of law. He got nationwide attention when he unilaterally declared a new definition of marriage in San Francisco, and "married" a bunch of homosexual couples. He was shot down by the California Supreme Court of course, as was he when San Francisco’s sweeping gun ban was overturned as an overstepping of city power. Imagine what he’d do as Governor, with no respect for the law or the Constitution, as he worked his far-left agenda.

As a conservative Republican I think our best chances lie with a Newsom upset in the primary, but I’d hate for him even to get that close. For what it’s worth, the two most recent polls show Brown to be in good shape. An August Research 2000/Daily Kos poll of likely voters put Brown ahead of Newsom 29/20, barely within the 5% MOE. In the general the poll shows Brown trouncing all Republican comers, while Newsom trails one Republican and is within a point of the other two. As an aside, that same poll shows Boxer crushing Fiorina by 21 and DeVore by 24, putting both possible Senate Repubicans well within the 4% MOE of each other (Yes, the poll has a 5% MOE for primaries and 4% for the general).

The other poll, by J. Moore Methods, shows likely Democrat primary voters preferring Brown to Newsom 46-26, a total rout.

The Republicans

Why do I call those Democrats less depressing than the Republicans? Consider our frontrunner, political novice Meg Whitman.

On record as loving the left-wing radical and former Green Jobs Commissar Van Jones, Whitman is already pushing a “green jobs” agenda of her own.

And the best part: She is unequivocally, unabashedly, unapologetically “pro-choice.” Zoom a head to 6:40 of this video to hear her say it to the applause of her supporters.

About the only good thing I can say about her is that she supported Proposition 8.

Next up is former US Representative Tom Campbell. Before his campaign for governor he came out strongly on two issues. First, he vociferously opposed Proposition 8 to restore marriage in California, making the absurd and insulting comparison with ‘race’ discrimination. Did you know you’re on the side of hateful bigots if you favor marriage? Tom Campbell thinks so.

As if I needed to go on, the other proposal Campbell made lately was an 18 cent gas tax hike . The Democrats won’t cut spending, so Campbell wants to raise taxes to fund that spending spree. Of course, he did this when gas prices were unnaturally low, but anyone could see that gas would rise back well above two dollars a gallon here, and now in fact it’s back over three. But if Tom Campbell had his way, we’d all be paying the price of even more expensive gas used to ship everything sold in all our stores in California.

While he’s against us on marriage, Campbell is hiding on the issue of abortion. He supports wishy-washy measures like parental notification laws, but I’m having a very hard time finding a firm position he’s taken on the core of the issue. His website is absolutely silent on the issue, which I think says it all.

Lastly we have Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. I do not hide the fact that I’m partial to Poizner in this race, but it is only in a sighing, by-default sort of way that I prefer him to win the primary. Because he joins Whitman and Campbell as being to the extreme left on social issues. I don’t know why we can’t have a single candidate who’s with us on abortion and marriage, but we don’t. Poizner was with us on Proposition 8, but is “pro-choice”, expecting to sell the base on himself by taking the John Kerry route of setting himself up as personally opposing abortion.

Poizner however is right on the issues of taxation and small government. He favors a part-time legislature, lowering tax rates to spur growth in the state and raise revenue, and plans to fight the pro-spending unions in the state by appealing to the members, bypassing the corrupt, socialist fatcats in charge of those unions. He also opposes a “carbon tax.”

Plus in Poizner over Whitman we have a proven politican who has shown he knows how to win a statewide general election in this state. Whitman is a complete unknown. She may turn out to be a political goofball and self-destruct like a Creigh Deeds, especially when she’s going to be up against the full brunt of the California Democrat-Union alliance, a high-pressure way for a total beginner to make her start running for elective office. Poizner has proven he can make it to election day without a total meltdown.

So, as I said up top, the choices are pretty depressing. The California Republican Party has apparently run out of conservatives willing to fight the tough fight and take a stand for values, character, and principle in this state. Instead we have the left fringe looking to drive a stake in the heart of the conservative base, dictating to us what’s really important, and capitulate to the Democrats on anything possible in order to notch up some meaningless electoral victories.

I will vote for the Republican next November, but none of these people could entice more than that from me, like a Chuck DeVore or a Tom McClintock could.

When I was a kid, we didn’t have regular Cokes in the house. We only had the flavorless fizzy stuff called Diet Coke that my mother drank. As a result I loved eating out because I could get the good stuff.

Carl’s Jr was the best of the bunch, too, because they were a pioneer in the serve-yourself free refill fountain. That was great. In fact it was so great I continued eating there as often as possible through high school and beyond.

Now, though, it just doesn’t feel right getting lemonade at their fountain. I have to though because I’m avoiding caffeine. So while I’m still happy with Carl’s burgers, it’s just not the same.

As an aside, for a while I’d stopped getting their combos entirely because I hate their new fries. Apparently I’m not the only one, because they now have a display up prominently offering substitutions for other items. It worked, too: I got a combo when I didn’t plan on it, because I could pay a little extra and get the crisscut fries.

If only they had caffeine free coke in the fountain.

Ever since I got my iMac, I’ve had a 19″ LCD display sitting unused. I’ve dreamed of picking up a USB Display Adapter of some sort to make use of it.

The good news: I found one. The bad news: The Kensington Dual Monitor Adapter costs $120.

I don’t need a third display that much. So, I wait. And dream.

Tonight on his site Flash Report, which is a nice source of California Republican political news, Jon Fleischman announced that he is pulling the proposal to close our state’s Republican primaries.

Right now, anyone who Declines To State a party preference is allowed to vote in our primaries, with the exception of Presidential primaries. But Fleischman had made a proposal, which the party was set to vote on in Indian Wells late this month, that would deny non-Republicans the chance to vote in our primaries. People would have to join our party to have a say in who represents our party.

However two hours ago he wrote this:

After consultation with many fellow supporters of my proposed change in the California Republican Party Bylaws, I made the very difficult decision just a few minutes ago to withdraw the change.

To make a long story short, while I am confident that the votes were there to pass the change at the convention, the matter was becoming extremely divisive due to a lot of misinformation being spread about the proposal, and its effects.

I am disappointed to hear this, and I hope that we don’t pay for it in June.

I’m seeing a distressing amount of criticism of Joe Wilson around these parts, for the sole reason that issued the following statement after shouting at President Obama during his “reform” sales pitch:

This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.

Nobody should criticize Joe Wilson over this apology who thinks the President is lying on illegal aliens.

We deal in weak apologies all the time at RedState. Trolls pretend to apologize all the time, then get banned for failing to making a genuine apology for their transgressions. So when I first heard Wilson apologized, I immediately hoped he made one with lots of loopholes, and was gratified to see this statement. Let me take it bit by bit to show you what I mean.

This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. I’m sure we all can understand where Wilson is coming from here. I never listen to Obama speak, and never have. This guy had to sit there listening during the joint session. Hearing the President lie repeatedly probably got Wilson angry, and put him in a state of mind where he might speak out in a way he ordinarily might not.

While I disagree with the President’s statement…. Right here, Wilson sends a message. He does not retract his statement about the lie. He does not retreat, he does not compromise, and he does not waver. This phrase boils down to ‘The President is still lying.’ Do not condemn him for this; praise him for having the temerity not to back down in the face of pressure.

…my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. Firstly note the bland, generic use of ‘comments,’ which is another sign that this apology is insincere. If he meant it, he would have said ‘comment,’ because this is about one comment. The use of ‘comments’ marks this as a statement against his heart for political gain.

Then note his descriptors. He does not call his comment incorrect. He does not call it unfair. He merely calls it inappropriate, as it clearly was in that context. It was rude, and against the accepted protocols of such a speech. He also calls it regrettable, which makes sense given all the lefty death threats he’s probably receiving right now. He didn’t say he regretted speaking the truth; he regrets the manner in which he did it.

I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility. And to conclude, Wilson reiterates that he is not apologizing for speaking the truth about the President’s lies, but merely for speaking the truth in an uncivil way. Every line of this piece is crafted not to apologize for the accusation of a lie. It only apologizes for the way in which the accusation was delivered.

So please, lay off of Joe Wilson if you agree with what he shouted. He’s not backing down. He’s just playing the game.

So it turns out the PS3 controller works mostly fine on my Mac if I plug it in to a USB port. The big downside is that the analog axes apparently show as buttons. I wonder if I can do something about that though.

Joe Wilson apologized for his statement during your speech. Now it’s your turn to man up and apologize for what you said about Sarah Palin during your speech.

So just as I’m mixing in some Patapon 2 with my Pangya on the elliptical, Sony re-releases Patapon in the Playstation Store. So I picked that up, and while I was there got Wipeout HD, since it was reasonably priced as well.

It’s an attractive game, and I expect to play it now and then. But all these downloaded games are killing my ability ever to catch up with all the games I’ve bought. On disc I stil have Makai Kingdom, and Disgaeas 2 and 3 to deal with. I’d like to play Phantom Brave Wii Meet again as well. SimCity DS calls me for snippets now and then. Street Fighter IV isn’t bad. Etrian Odyssey and its sequel await.

That’s enough as it is, but once you start throwing in impulse buys like Wipeout HD and Marvel v. Capcom 2 (Chun Li, Roll, and Megaman!), or World of Goo and the whole world of Wiiware and Virtual Console downloads, I can’t even pretend to have a clear queue anymore.

At some point maybe I should just take a week of pure vacation and just play.